Tom Hewitt as Dr. Frank N. Furter Tom Hewitt as Dr. Frank N. Furter NEW YORK - People
magazine got it wrong. The sexiest Broadway star isn't any of the clean-cut clones,
muscle-bound carbon copies or perpetually tanned romantic leading man types who usually
get fingered by the usual gang of stereotype-brained media fawners. Oh, no. Broadway's
sexiest man in stockings plays a sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania.
Lusty, androgynous, lascivious, he wears black corset, satin undies, garter belt,
fishnet gloves and stockings and platform shoes. And he's got big, thick, red-hot
lips. As soon as Tom Hewitt walks onstage and flings open the lab coat, you immediately
forget Tim what's-his-face. Towering over every nerd, sexpot, wacko, biker, riffraff
alien or blond boytoy in the Broadway revival of Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror
Show, which opens Tuesday, Nov. 15, Hewitt juices up the lead role of Frank N. Furter
and turns in an impudently infernal performance as the knight of dark desire. "As
an actor, I'll do anything," Hewitt told Theatre.com, in the middle of previews.
"I'm pretty shameless in that regard. It's a strange experience. I really enjoy doing
it because I've been given a lot of freedom. This cast is so outrageous. It has inspiring
and different everyday. It's such an adventure. And I'm still being encouraged to
explore new boundaries.

The show plays an unorthodox weekly schedule, eliminating the traditional Wednesday
and Saturday matinees: Saturday at 5 and 9:45 PM, Sunday at 2 and 7 PM and Tuesday
through Friday at 8 PM.

Without question, this Rocky Horror revival is the highlight of Hewitt's career.
It's a breakout role, after years of mostly replacing other actors in major Broadway
shows. At around the same time he was cast in Rocky Horror, Hewitt was playing another
outsized role, Scar in Disney's The Lion King. A Montana native, he's appeared on
Broadway in Yasmina Reza's Art, Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig and Richard
Brinsley Sheridan's The School for Scandal. "I play a lot of royalty and a lot of
larger-than-life, elevated type of characters," Hewitt confessed. "So that's helped
me absolutely and let me be Frank. He's royalty. He's got to be the ruler in a certain
sense." It's well-nigh impossible to tell which drips more with manly sensuality:
Hewitt's resonant voice or his commanding physical presence. For years, he has intelligently
played masculine characters. At his most brittle or lightly satric, his comic style
blends boyish charm and suave timing. Hewitt's straight-acting persona is practically
embedded in the noggins: Charles in Guthrie's Blithe Sprit, Antony in Shakespeare
Theatre's Antony and Cleopatra, Alan Strange in Equus, Astrov in Uncle Vanya and
Rochester in Paper Mill Playhouse's Jane Eyre. Hewitt is the first to point out that
nobody is more surprised than he that he was cast in The Rocky Horror revival. During
these celebrity-worshipping times when big-name stars are normally plopped in Broadway
shows, he actually thought the show's director Christopher Ashley (The Most Fabulous
Story Ever Told,) was going to cast him as an understudy to some popular so-and-so.
"Christopher Ashley lives near me," Hewitt explained. 'We did Jeffrey together. Months
ago, before auditions were held for Rocky Horror, Chris said he was directing this
show with some famous name, probably David Bowie. I thought, 'My God, that's fabulous.'
I knew they were looking for stars. My boyfriend got wind of the audition and told
me that it would be fun for me to audition. At the time, I didn't think about Rocky
Horror in the context of a a live show. When my agents called me to ask if I wanted
to audition, I just did it on a lark. I felt guilty because I wanted to show off
for Christopher. I mean, where else can a 42-year-old guy sing lyrics like 'I am
sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania'?" Hewitt is not the Methody kind
of actor who confuses life with his art. He will gladly leave Dr. Frank behind in
the dressing room, though he did confess that since taking on the role he has spiced
up his own wardrobe and made it "a little more textured." As Dr. Frank N. Furter,
Hewitt makes outrageous use of his acting pedigree. He is one of the original Americans
to work with Tadashi Suzuki's avant garde company in Japan. The cornerstone of the
Suzuki method is the belief in the potential of human beings to tap into their animal
energy. "For this show I started with external stuff and built the role going outward
from there," he said, adding with a soupcon of mischief: "I like to build walls that
are thick and hard. This show is silly. You have to invest and commit to what the
characters are trying to do. Bringing into it realistic or naturalistic behavior
is not a good idea. I was 17 years old when I first came in contact with the original
Rocky Horror musical. I was an undergraduate at the University of Missouri in Montana.
My friends and I were excited went we went to the movie, but we were disappointed
in the film. It's so slow. That's why people yell things out; there are these huge
gaping pauses." Now that he's performing in Rocky Horror at Circle in the Square,
Hewitt has found that the audience participation element varies greatly night after
night. "The audience is the newest member in the show," Hewitt said. "This show is
the strangest damn thing I have ever done. We have to keep so awake and alert and
concentrated in ways we don't expect. The audiences change every night. During Saturday
nights, they tell throughout the show. But on Sunday matinee, there's nothing. We're
literally figuring out how it works." If there's anything that Hewitt finds disappointing
about The Rocky Horror Show, it's that Dr. Frank N. Furter has to die in the end:
"The show has this 1955 sci-fi sensibility of the fag as a tragic character. I'm
sort of tired of that. I'd like to see him live. His message is, 'Don't dream it.
Be it.' He wants to spread love to people and free people sexually. But his plans
are thwarted by Transylvanians." Speaking of freeing people up sexually, will Hewitt's
parents come to see their son lord it up as Dr. Frank N. Furter on Broadway? "My
parents are in their mid-80s," he replied. "I tried to explain to them what the show
is about. My mom called me back and said, 'We just rented the movie. It looks like
you're going to have a lot of fun.' They've seen me in real weird stuff." Can he
share some of the twisted, perverted stuff he gets to act out onstage? "I'm not going
to give that away," Hewitt said. "You have to wait and see, little mister!" Sigh!
{:-)-:}

PLAYBILL ON-LINE'S BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Tom Hewitt

Tom Hewitt is just getting to the point where he feels it may be safe to bring in
a few additional items to his dressing room at Circle in the Square. He stars there
as Frank 'n' Furter in the revival of the Rocky Horror Show and, by all accounts,
Hewitt is a dynamic stage presence - an intelligent new star who is strutting his
stuff alongside rocker Joan Jett, celebrated wit Dick Cavett, and theatre's ubiquitous
songstress, Alice Ripley. Likable, direct, bold, funny and mesmerizing in performance,
Hewitt spoke with Playbill On-Line backstage as he prepared for a show.

Playbill On-Line: In an earlier interview, Jordan Roth (producer Rocky Horror Show)
commented on the national casting search and said that of all the Frank 'n' Furters
and all their costuming choices, you were the one actor who portrayed true masculine
menace together with feminine allure - how did you prepare for the role?

Tom Hewitt: Well, I think my choices were actually colored by the fact that when
I auditioned, I didn't think I would ever be cast in the show. I didn't think it
was a possibility. I've known Chris Ashley (director RHS) for a long time - he directed
me in Jeffrey. I've known him since the early '80s and he lives near me, so I see
him on the train platform once in a while. Last spring he told me he was directing
Rocky Horror and by that time there were already rumors about the stars who were
going to be in it. They were already tossing around Joan Jett and Dick Cavett.

PBOL: So how did you get in?

TH: Chris was on his way, as we spoke, to meet some famous rock star about the role
and he said to me, "Would you come in and audition?" And I said, "Chris, you're never
gonna cast me!" Plus, I was in the Lion King (as "Scar") and I didn't think Disney
would let me out of my contract because there were a couple of months overlap.

PBOL: Were you just contracted with Disney, or still performing the role?

TH: I was still performing, and they overlapped. I performed two weeks in Lion King
and rehearsed Rocky during the day. Disney was great though, and they eventually
let me out.

PBOL: Getting back to how you came to the role, did you have any personal connection
with the material as you were growing up?

TH: I never really considered the show as a "stage show" really. I mean, you only
think of it in the context of the movie. And I wasn't a big fan of the movie, I never
particularly liked it. I remember lovin' the music and listenin' to the original
Roxy cast recording, I think it's an L.A. recording, made, perhaps, with the same
production that was here in the '70s. Anyway, the music was great, and the arrangements
were awesome and it rocked; and at an undergraduate school in Missoula, Montana in
the mid 70s we played it all the time. It was like religious music-it was like funky
and made fun of the genre of Sci-Fi and it was kind of sexy and naughty and we loved
it.

PBOL: There was a meaningful connection for you?

TH: Well, we were so excited when the movie came out and yet so disappointed in it
because it was not a particularly good movie. Of course, Tim Curry was brilliant
in it, and I'd catch it every once in a while on VH 1, but I never really thought
about it as a role I'd like to do. But then the agents called and said, "Do you want
to audition?" And I thought about it for a second and said, "Yes I do."

PBOL: What prompted your interest?

TH: Well, I'm 42 and I thought: When else in my life am I going to have an opportunity
to sing, "I'm just a sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania?" I just thought
it would be fun to muster up the guts to go in and kinda show off for Chris Ashley.
I wanted something-basically- to work on a little bit.

PBOL: It sounds like it was almost an exercise or a background statement..something
you could look back on and say, "Remember the time I did that?"

TH: Exactly, and I needed some experience auditioning for musicals. I just don't
do it...in Lion King we do a lot of speaking. It's kind of a Rex Harrison-y role
you know, and I really didn't consider myself a singer in that role. But I wanted
to give it a shot and I wanted to show off and I almost felt guilty going into it
because I thought I might be wasting Chris' time. Then I started working on the music
and became obsessed with it and I couldn't not work on it. I knew something was going
on. It wasn't "work," and I just couldn't stop thinking about it. I was given three
numbers and two scenes to audition with and by the time the audition came around
I had really worked something up. I had really worked on it.

PBOL: The story goes that you arrived for the audition in character and fully dressed
for the role.

TH: Against the advice of several of my friends I decided to show up wearing something.
In the past, if I wore a tie to an audition, that was a big character choice for
me. I've never done anything like that before and it took some guts. And I wanted
to see if I had the guts to go through with it. So, I got mismatched fishnets - I
put one fishnet on my arm and I got a lab coat from the puppet shop at the Lion King.
My hair looked like this, I had it sort of bleached and it was grown out, so I think
I actually got the role because I was blonde. I knew I had a lot of leg, so I knew
that I could do some leg stuff. I got a pair of pumps from a hair guy at Lion King
that I squeezed into. I could wear them for 15 minutes without bleeding. So, I squeezed
into those and pranced around. But you know, I remember thinking in the audition,
"Well, they're gonna have to deal with me!" It sort of all came through and there
was nothing at stake for me. There really wasn't. I had all these assumptions: I
had a great job at Lion King that I loved, I knew Chris, I knew Jerry Mitchell and
I assumed they weren't going to give me the job. At the same time, I wasn't gonna
understudy. I knew I wasn't gonna leave (Lion King to understudy. They were going
to hire a star. So, I wasn't scared, I just went in and showed off. I just had fun
for that day and tried to let that audition be what it was: "There, I sang "Sweet
Transvestite," thank you very much for lettin' me. Goodbye...you'll never see me
again." But then, they cast me!

PBOL: You can speak to different people about Rocky Horror and if they have a connection
to it they seem to be able to define it. It seems that you found your connection
somewhere in the preparation for the audition.

TH: Well, I knew that it was going to be all or nothing. It's one of those characters
where you have to really, completely immerse yourself in it, you can't sort of go
halfway. You really have to surrender to it and part of that is wearing that stuff.
However shocking it is to see myself in it outside of the context of the show, and
however humiliating it is - whatever - it's also very powerful to walk into a room
(stands in dressing room and demonstrates a Frank 'n' Furter strut) and think, "I'm
wearing this, and you're not." It's amazing - I was amazed at how powerful it was.
And, in terms of auditioning in costume, there really wasn't a choice as far as I
was concerned. I thought Chris might not like it, but I couldn't conceive of doing
that material without making some attempt at bein' a fabulous alien transvestite.

PBOL: It had to be done.

TH: It had to be done, it was just a question of whether I really had the courage
to carry through. (laughs) But I was embarrassed. The first time I went in, I didn't
have the guts to change my clothes outside of the room, where everyone was congregating.
Now, there were a lot of people there and nobody else was dressing up, it was just
me. So, I had my sweatpants on and the lab coat and I took off the sweatpants really
fast and tried to get dressed but that was kind of a mistake. But the next two times
I auditioned I had the courage to prepare myself outside the room and sit proudly
in my doctor's coat and fishnet stockings and spiked heels.

PBOL: But by that time, you probably felt like you owned it a bit, no?

TH: I felt like I owned it and I knew they were interested in me. I told them I wasn't
interested in being an understudy and they said, "No, no, they want you for the role."
Then I started to think it was a good idea to cast me. I mean, they have enough stars,
I wouldn't give them any trouble, I'd be good.

PBOL: David Rockwell (set designer RHPS) said that what inspired him to do the show
was director Chris Ashley's description of his message, which was essentially-and
I'm paraphrasing here- that people should be free to make any decision they choose
to make. What about you?

TH: "Don't dream it, be it." If people are going to leave with a message from the
show, it would be that. Now, if people get that, that's fine, but it's a nasty little
rock 'n' roll show. That's basically what it is, and it's a whole lot of fun and
an opportunity to be incredibly indulgent and combine a lot of different disciplines
that I've come in contact with over the years. As for any sort of redeeming social
message or epiphany that they want to leave the audience with, that's not up to me.
My job is in the moment to moment, song by song things, those smaller decisions that
make up the bigger picture.

TH: Well, I suppose. In a way I get to have absolute permission to behave outrageously-so
I am not dreaming it, I'm being it. So I feel a little bit of a responsibility to
"be it" for those 700 people out there every night who can't-or won't-completely
let themselves go. To have fun, for their sake.

PBOL: Do you find Rocky audiences interact and did you know what to expect of them?

TH: You know, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. A few weeks before the show
opened , lots of us from the cast went to E. 12 St. and saw the show. I'd never seen
it in the context of participation before and it was enlightening. I'm glad I saw
it because it [the audience call-backs during the show] can sound like heckling.
When people yell at you, especially things like "asshole, slut," things like that,
these are not kind words they are yelling at you. It feels like heckling, but it's
noooooot, not, not heckling-it's love. It's a feeling of community. It was almost
religious without the spirituality. I thought it was so charmingly human and American,
just grasping on to any kind of culture or ritual that we can in our young society.
It was funny and clever, yet I couldn't watch the whole thing because I couldn't
watch Tim (Curry), I was trying to get Tim out of my mind.

PBOL: Is the show so familiar to audiences that it is formal and predictable?

TH: It varies from night to night. It varies when people yell, what they yell and
if they yell. I have a little permission to stray from the script. I tend not to,
because it's hard. It's more fun for me to respond with the script but to give it
a little spin (mugs in character). A lot of us have two or three different ways to
deliver a line depending on what - and if - people say something. We have like Plan
A, Plan B and Plan C. It continues to evolve. People now yell things that are specific
to our show instead of just the movie.

PBOL: Like what? TH: Like when I sing, "So, I wanted to be dressed...." And they
shout, "Like Eva Peron!?" And I sing, "Just the same." Now, Tim Curry was not dressed
anything like Eva Peron and I've got beautiful silk gloves and stuff...

PBOL: This may be one of the most bold and outrageous role of your career-do you
feel you've gotten to a point where you are able to really play with it?

TH: I feel like I'm getting a little bit braver. One example is that sometimes people
get carried away and they throw rolls of toilet paper at us - a lot of rolls of toilet
paper on the stage - and we have Lea (de Laria) in a wheelchair and we have to do
a show and we have to deal with that. So, I have to stop them and try not to discourage
them from participating; I try not to be school-marmish and chastising but still
make it very clear that it's not okay to throw a bunch of shit at us while we're
trying to work out there.

TH: Well, in Lion King, as a replacement, I really didn't work with Julie. I did
a small film with Julie called "Fool's Fire." Julie directs...well, Julie designs
and directs, so her direction has a lot to do with fulfilling a big aesthetic picture.
It has to do with costumes and usually a puppet or some extension of a human body
that you're wearing or manipulating. So her directions and her motivations have to
do not only with you physically, but a prosthetic something or other that's happening,
too. Chris, of course deals in more bare bones. Even the film "Jeffrey," was more
minimalist, it was just a projection screen basically. This show is pretty bare bones,
too. We're kind of on a thrust stage, and though the set does some pretty amazing
things, we're really just people out there. Chris really gave me free reign. He liked
what I did in the audition and he encouraged me to move along those lines, so this
really felt like a collaboration between Chris and Jerry. They would ask my opinion
and it was an awesome and really rewarding actor/director relationship.

PBOL: What's it like to work with Dick Cavett?

TH: You know, these people like Dick and Joan (Jett), they're like icons. I remember
Dick, I watched him when I was a kid. It's really great. And his part changes daily
depending on what's happening politically. He was completely clueless about the whole
Rocky thing when he came in, but it's really fun to see him develop his dynamic in
the show.

PBOL: Was there ever anything on your resume that you took off the moment you had
bigger and better things to replace it with?

TH: I am proudly an American regional theatre actor. I always have been and I always
will be. I am enjoying my time on Broadway, but for the sake of space I have lumped
all of my regional theatre credits into "Tom Hewitt has worked in regional theatres
throughout the U.S." For the first time, I've stopped listing things that I've done
regionally.

PBOL: A final question - is there anyone you'd like to work with but haven't had
the chance to?

TH: Victor Garber. I have had the opportunity of working with him, but I haven't
spent any time on stage with him. I've understudied him twice and I've learned so
much from him. I have this game where if I get stuck acting I like channel Victor
Garber and ask, "What would Victor Garber do right now?" And it kinda helps. I really
love him and admire him and I would love to share the stage with him sometime.

By Murdoch McBride <"mail to:mmcbride@playbill.com">

Rocky Horror Show to Open at Bway's Circle Nov. 15 Instead of Halloween

Director Christopher Ashley (Drama Dept.'s Communicating Doors, As Thousands Cheer
and Claudia Shear's Blown Sideways Through Life at the New York Theatre Workshop)
will helm the show. Roth is the son of producer Daryl Roth (Wit, Three Tall Women
and The Bomb-itty of Errors) and himself the producer of the Off-Broadway hit, The
Donkey Show.

Producer Jordan Roth has made clear choices for the revival. "It's a going to be
a very non-traditional Broadway show," Roth told Playbill On-Line in July. The producer
said the show will be "absolutely as interactive" as audiences would expect The Rocky
Horror Show to be. Over the years, the stage and film versions of the show have engendered
a strong fan base, which, despite its size, has been described as a cult following.
"People can expect the show to be done in the same way that audiences have always
responded to Rocky Horror," Roth said, "meaning the way that the music and characters
inspire people to sing and dance and interact with each other. That's the experience
of the Rocky Horror Show live."

The stage version of the show ran on Broadway for about one month in 1975. The film
version, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," was also released in 1975 and was directed
by Jim Sharman. The film featured many members of the Broadway cast and starred Tim
Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien, Jonathan Adams, Meatloaf,
Little Nell (Campbell), Charles Gray and Patricia Quinn.

Though Roth's current Off-Broadway show, The Donkey Show, was adapted from Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream and his mother's recent hit, The Bomb-itty of Errors, was
based on the Bard's Comedy of Errors, there is no adaptation planned for The Rocky
Horror Picture Show. "This is not going to be an adaptation," Roth insists. "The
movie was actually based on the original stage show, which it followed quite faithfully.
This is the stage show and it's not adapted, reworked or re-concepted.' But, it is
certainly going to be a 'Rocky Horror' experience unlike any other."

Tickets are $30-$79.50. Circle in the Square is located at 1633 Broadway, on 50th
St. For tickets call Tele-Charge at (212) 239-6200.

-- By Murdoch McBride

Rocky Leads Announced

The people behind the upcoming Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show have finally
confirmed most of the leading players for their production, which is set to open
on November 13th at the Circle in the Square Theater.

Although there are no proven box office draws in the leading roles, the cast is shaping
up as an eclectic mix of theater pros, pop culture icons and lesbian role models.
Joan Jett, Dick Cavett, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Alice Ripley, Jarrod Emick and Lea DeLaria
have all been confirmed as cast members. The biggest question mark at this point
is who will play Rocky, the hunky creation of Dr. Frank 'n' Furter. Bernard Telsey
Casting, who is handling the show, has even begun placing ads in HX and other gay
bar magazines looking for bodybuilders who can sing.

Jett will make her Broadway debut as Columbia, the off-beat Frank 'N' Furter groupie.
Jett is best known to be the 80s rocker who spawned such hits as “I Hate Myself For
Loving You,” “Crimson and Clover” and “I Love Rock 'n' Roll.” Jett told Broadway.com
that despite her lack of Broadway experience, this is not her first theatrical pursuit.
“Theater was one of the first things I was interested in as a kid, even before rock
and roll,” she said. “I was into theater in junior high school and putting on the
school plays and things like that. So it's always something that's interested me.”

Ripley has been cast as Janet, the innocent all-American girl. Ripley was in the
original Broadway cast of The Who's Tommy, Sunset Boulevard, King David, Side Show
and James Joyce's The Dead. Her work in Side Show, in which she and Emily Skinner
(also returning to Broadway in The Full Monty) played Siamese twins, earned her a
Drama Desk and Tony Award Nomination. She was also seen on Broadway as Fantine in
Les Miserables. Check out Broadway.com's video footage of Alice crooning her solo
rock songs at She Rocks Broadway.

Jarrod Emick makes a return to the stage as Brad, the nerdy dupe who, with Janet,
stumbles into Frank ‘n’ Furtner’s lair. Emick won the 1994 Best Featured Actor in
a Musical Tony Award for his performance in Damn Yankees. Emick was also said to
be a contender for the role of Curly in the Broadway revival of Oklahoma! before
that show’s Broadway rebirth was delayed.

Tom Hewitt will take on the legendary role of the sweet transvestite, Frank 'n' Furter.
Hewitt’s Broadway credits include roles in The Sisters Rosensweig, The School for
Scandal, Art and his current gig as Scar in The Lion King. Off-Broadway he has made
appearances in Jeffrey, Beau Gest, Richard III and Othello. Hewitt has the intimidating
task of following in the large footsteps of Tim Curry, who played the role in the
film. “Tim's performance is iconic," Hewitt told Broadway.com. "The breakdown for
the audition said 'we don't want a Tim Curry imitation,' but to set about working
on it and not to do Tim Curry is... he's just so it and so right for the part. It's
hard in a lot of ways not to manifest him in a lot of degrees.”

For a gender twist, Lea DeLaria will play Eddie and Dr. Scott, roles originated by
Meatloaf. DeLaria earned an Obie Award, Theatre World Award and Drama Desk nomination
for her performance in 1998’s On The Town. Her other theatrical credits include the
Encores! production of L’il Abner, the Chicago tour and the recent Actors’ Fund reading
on The Women.

Rent's first and most popular Mimi, Daphne Rubin-Vega, will take on the role of Magenta,
the creepy sister of Riff Raff. She told Broadway.com that she's not afraid of the
potential rabid nature of the Rocky audiences though. “As long as they don't throw
things that hurt us, I think we'll be fine,” Rubin-Vega joked. For her performance
in Rent, Rubin-Vega earned the Theatre World Award and Obie Award. She also received
Tony and Drama Desk Nominations for her performance. Since leaving Rent she has worked
on her recording and film careers, appearing in Wild Things and Flawless. Be sure
to watch Daphne performing at She Rocks Broadway.

Cavett will star as the Narrator. Although best known for hosting various incarnations
of The Dick Cavett Show, he has been on Broadway before in Otherwise Engaged and
Into the Woods.

Raul Esparza will play Riff Raff, the bizarre and slightly sinister keeper of the
gate. Esparza is best known for his appearance as Che Guevara in the recent Evita
tour.

24-year-old Jordan Roth (The Donkey Show) makes a Broadway producing debut with The
Rocky Horror Show. “Everybody's been dying for Rocky Horror to come to New York,”
Roth said in his Broadway.com Q&A. “I think audiences are looking for and finding
new ways of experiencing live entertainment. We've seen the trend over the last ten
years and all of these interactive shows borrow something from Rocky Horror. It only
makes sense to let audiences experience the original.”

Christopher Ashley (Jeffrey, The Most Fabulous Story..., As Thousands Cheer) is directing
the production. His only Broadway credit is last season's short-lived thriller Voices
in the Dark. Ashley told Broadway.com that the creative team, “really wanted a cast
that felt really fresh, that felt really eclectic, sexy… [like] you've never seen
them together in a show."

"It" choreographer Jerry Mitchell is creating the movement for the show. “The thing
that makes me so excited about the project is it is a chance for people to feel free,”
Mitchell told Broadway.com. Best known for his racy work on the annual Broadway Cares/Equity
Fights AIDS benefit Broadway Bares and The Full Monty, Mitchell joked about his reputation.
“All of the sudden I'm the choreographer with nudity in every show,” he joked, “It
happens! What can I say? My reputation proceeds me, I guess!” Come watch some of
Mitchell's sexy footwork of Broadway Bares 2000.

As reported earlier, producer Jordan Roth has made clear choices for the revival.
"It's a going to be very non-traditional Broadway show," Roth told Playbill On-Line
in July. Roth plans a Halloween opening this season. "Rocky Horror will come straight
to a Broadway house," Roth added, with no out-of-town tryout.

Director Christopher Ashley (Drama Dept.'s Communicating Doors, As Thousands Cheer
and Claudia Shear's Blown Sideways Through Life at the New York Theatre Workshop)
will helm the show, Roth said. Roth is the son of producer Daryl Roth (Wit, Three
Tall Women and The Bomb-itty of Errors) and himself the producer of the Off Broadway
hit, The Donkey Show. Roth also said the show will be "absolutely as interactive"
as audiences would expect The Rocky Horror Show to be. Over the years, the stage
and film versions of the show have engendered a strong fan base, which, despite its
size, has been described as a cult following. "People can expect the show to be done
in the same way that audiences have always responded to Rocky Horror," Roth said,
"meaning the way that the music and characters inspire people to sing and dance and
interact with each other. That's the experience of the Rocky Horror show live."

The stage version of the show ran on Broadway for about one month in 1975. The film
version, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," was also released in 1975 and was directed
by Jim Sharman. The film featured many members of the Broadway cast and starred Tim
Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien, Jonathan Adams, Meatloaf,
Little Nell (Campbell), Charles Gray and Patricia Quinn.

Though Roth's current Off-Broadway show, The Donkey Show was adapted from Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream and his mother's recent hit, The Bomb-itty of Errors was
based on the Bard's Comedy of Errors, there is no adaptation planned for The Rocky
Horror Picture Show. "This is not going to be an adaptation," Roth insists. "The
movie was actually based on the original stage show, which it followed quite faithfully.
This is the stage show and it's not adapted, reworked or reconcepted.' But, it is
certainly going to be a 'Rocky Horror' experience unlike any other."

-- By Murdoch McBride

Wednesday August 23 6:07 AM ET

Jett, Cavett join cast of Broadway ``Rocky''

By Robert Hofler

NEW YORK (Variety) - Veteran rocker Joan Jett will make her Broadway debut in a revival
of ``The Rocky Horror Show,'' which is set to open at the Circle in the Square on
Nov. 13.

Jett will play Columbia, and will be joined by talk show veteran Dick Cavett as the
narrator in Richard O'Brien's musical take on the Frankenstein legend.

In a show that features the escapades of a cross-dressing mad scientist, rookie Broadway
producer Jordan Roth goes a step further with an example of female drag. He's cast
lesbian comic Lea DeLaria (``On the Town'') to play Eddie/Dr. Scott, roles originated
by rock 'n' roller Meatloaf in the musical's London premiere and the 1975 Gotham
production.